Marcus gives Piedmont Healthcare $75M for new cardiac services center

Atlanta philanthropist Bernie Marcus, who went from building a home materials business to building a giant fish tanks, now has given $75 million to help Piedmont Healthcare launch a long-term expansion of its cardiac services with a new building at Peachtree and Collier roads.

According to Piedmont, the gift from The Marcus Foundation is the second- largest ever made to a community hospital in the United States. It could also be the second-largest gift ever given by

The Sheffield Medical building will be torn down for the new heart center building.

Marcus besides the $250 million-plus he gave to build the Georgia Aquarium.

According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, “the gift will further cement The Home Depot Inc. co-founder’s legacy as one of Atlanta’s greatest health-care philanthropists alongside the Woodruff Foundation and Rollins family.”

BuckheadView and the Atlanta Business Chronicle first reported in late February that Piedmont is planning what could be a 10-to-15 story tower to be anchored by The Marcus Heart and Vascular Center at the corner of Peachtree and Collier roads—present site of the Sheffield Medical Building—and a renovation of its existing Buckhead campus.

Piedmont is still hashing out the details of the project, but it will include razing the 78,000-square-foot Sheffield Building, which has stood next to Piedmont Atlanta Hospital since the 1960s.

The Marcus gift of $75 million helps kick off a larger Piedmont capital campaign, which hopes to raise a minimum of $150 million.

The Marcus Foundation previously gave Piedmont $20 million in 2012 to establish the Marcus Heart Valve Center at the Buckhead campus.

Piedmont’s cardiac practice is the largest among all Georgia hospitals. In 2014, it performed 1,248 total heart surgeries, more than any other hospital in the state.

In its article, the Business Chronicle listed The Marcus Foundation’s other notable donations as including $30 million to Grady Health System in 2014, $25 million to Boca Raton Regional Hospital and $3.9 million to the Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention